MATTHEWS: Why Joe Biden should never be president

In this June 11, 2020, photo, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a roundtable on economic reopening with community members in Philadelphia. Biden’s search for a running mate is entering a second round of vetting for a dwindling list of potential vice presidential nominees, with several black women in strong contention. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

For as long as I’ve been voting, there are two questions I’ve always asked myself about a candidate before ultimately deciding whether or not I’m going to support them:

Does that candidate genuinely believe America is the greatest country on earth, accomplishing much in her young history while still possessing the greatest potential to be even better? Does that candidate believe in American exceptionalism?

If the answer to both those questions is “no,” then the candidate does not deserve to hold public office at any level of government. If that candidate just so happens to win their election, the goal for me is to fight their agenda every step of the way.

During the eight years of the Obama-Biden administration, moral relativism was the rule of thumb more often than not. The administration operated from the mindset that there was nothing especially unique nor exceptional about America in comparison to other countries. Neither President Obama or Vice-President Biden believed in American exceptionalism.

It was a distorted mindset that helped embolden the toxic amount of anti-Americanism we’ve seen gain steam in higher ed institutions and newsrooms over the last decade.

One would have hoped that warped way of thinking about the country wouldn’t have rubbed off on Joe Biden when he and his family have done so well financially and politically, but clearly, it did.

Not only that, but the radical leftists he’s aligned himself with during the course of his presidential campaign will ensure that he doesn’t go back on the many promises he made in exchange for their support. At some point, if elected, the ideological checks he wrote to extremists in his party, like Green New Deal-proponent Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, will come due for cashing.

Last Wednesday, Joe Biden confirmed his lack of a belief in American greatness and exceptionalism during a podcast he did just two short weeks before election day. “America was an idea,” he claimed. “We’ve never lived up to it, but we’ve never walked away from it before.”

America has “never” lived up to her ideals? Seriously?

“This is a disgusting sentiment,” wrote one Twitter user in response. “It flies directly in the face of all that America, and more importantly, Americans have accomplished, sacrificed, and died for.”

“The American people lived up to it for 250 years,” said another. “[We] grew as a nation, saved the world, and built the greatest, most influential country in history.”

No one who agrees with the view that America is not the greatest country in the world should be considered a worthy candidate for public office.

Is America a perfect country? No. Does she have a spotless history? Far from it. But one of the many things that make the country so great is that we build on our every success and take to heart the hard lessons learned from the mistakes and other teachable moments, righting the wrongs in hopes they will not be repeated, in order to “form a more perfect Union,” as outlined in the greatest singular document on earth — the Constitution.

The “idea” that America has “never lived up” to her ideals is, as Biden would phrase it, “malarkey.” No one who agrees with the view that America is not the greatest country in the world should be considered a worthy candidate for public office, nor should they be given the chance to “prove” the point.

Any undecided voter who was on the fence about Biden before he said what he did last week shouldn’t be anymore. His offensive comments about America supposedly “never” living up to her ideals should disqualify him from holding even the post of dogcatcher, much less the leader of the free world.

Biden simply should not be rewarded with the high honor of presiding over America if he does not unequivocally see her as the shining city on the hill that she is.

Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.